Pressure and pressure or displacement variations are measured in a media, such as a fluid (e.g., air, other gases, or other liquid fluids), using ultrasound. The pressure may be sound pressure (e.g., acoustic pressure), pseudo-sound pressure (e.g., hydrodynamic pressure), displacement, and so on. By measuring pressure or displacement, the flow in the fluid can be measured, estimated, parameterized, or otherwise quantified. In this way, measurements of pressure (e.g., acoustic pressure, hydrodynamic pressure) or displacement can be correlated or otherwise converted into a measurement of flow. The pressure measurements can also be converted into audio signals that can be played back to a user.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for measuring pressure using an ultrasound system, the method comprising: (a) acquiring ultrasound data from a region-of-interest containing an interface between a first medium and a second medium, wherein the ultrasound data are acquired using an ultrasound system by: generating with the ultrasound system one or more transmitted ultrasound waves directed towards the region-of-interest; and detecting one or more ultrasound waves reflected from the region-of-interest in response to the one or more transmitted ultrasound waves interacting with vibrations caused at the interface between the first medium and the second medium by displacements propagating in the first medium, wherein the one or more ultrasound waves reflected from the region-of-interest encode the vibrations caused at the interface by the displacements propagating in the first medium and wherein the one or more ultrasound waves reflected from the region-of-interest do not capture ambient and environmental noise in the region-of-interest; (b) accessing the ultrasound data with a computer system in order to process the ultrasound data, generating output as at least one of displacement or pressure data indicative of displacement or pressure measurements associated with the displacements propagating in the first medium; and (c) outputting the at least one of the displacement or pressure data to a user using the computer system, wherein the at least one of the displacement or pressure data have reduced noise based on the ambient and environmental noise not being captured in the ultrasound data.
2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the displacements propagating in the first medium correspond to one or more pressure waves propagating in the first medium.
3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the one or more pressure waves comprise one or more acoustic pressure waves.
4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the interface is a fluid-media interface that comprises an air-media interface.
5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the fluid-media interface is an air-media interface that comprises an interface between air and a tissue.
6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the tissue corresponds to at least one of a tracheal wall or a laryngeal wall.
7. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the fluid-media interface is an air-media interface that comprises an interface between air and a non-biological material.
8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the non-biological material comprises at least one of a plastic, a metal, or a metallic alloy.
9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more transmitted ultrasound waves are transmitted using a pulsed-wave Doppler mode of the ultrasound system.
10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more transmitted ultrasound waves are transmitted using a continuous wave Doppler mode of the ultrasound system.
11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one of displacement or pressure data are generated by comparing the ultrasound data to reference data indicative of a relationship between ultrasound data and pressure or displacement measurements.
12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the relationship is an empirically determined relationship.
13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one of displacement or pressure data comprise pressure data that are generated by inputting the ultrasound data to a trained machine learning algorithm that has been trained to correlate ultrasound data with pressure measurements, generating output as the pressure data.
14. An ultrasound microphone, comprising: an ultrasound transducer; a controller in communication with the ultrasound transducer and programmed to: cause the ultrasound transducer to transmit one or more ultrasound waves; receive ultrasound data from the ultrasound transducer, the ultrasound data indicating an interaction between the one or more ultrasound waves and a fluid-media interface that is vibrating in response to one or more pressure waves propagating in the fluid; convert the ultrasound data to pressure data representative of pressure measurements associated with the one or more pressure waves propagating in the fluid; and dynamically change a pressure sensitivity by changing a frequency of the one or more ultrasound waves transmitted by the ultrasound transducer.
15. The ultrasound microphone as recited in claim 14, wherein the ultrasound transducer and the controller are arranged in a water-proof housing.
16. The ultrasound microphone as recited in claim 14, wherein the controller is programmed to cause the ultrasound transducer to transmit the one or more transmitted ultrasound waves using a pulsed-wave Doppler mode.
17. The ultrasound microphone as recited in claim 14, wherein the controller is programmed to cause the ultrasound transducer to transmit the one or more transmitted ultrasound waves using a continuous wave Doppler mode.
18. The ultrasound microphone as recited in claim 14, wherein the controller is programmed to convert the ultrasound data to the pressure or displacement data by comparing the ultrasound data to reference data indicative of a relationship between ultrasound data and pressure or displacement measurements.
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April 12, 2021
May 13, 2025
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